The Wisdom of Pain and the Ummah's Shared Suffering

The Wisdom of Pain: Feeling the Ummah's Suffering

One of the biological components or features that Allah put within the human body is the feeling of pain — physical pain. There is of course emotional pain as well, but physical pain. And yes, definitely when a person experiences intense physical pain, then there are often various different types of medications that will be given to block that feeling, to prevent those pain receptors from exhibiting that pain that the body would feel.

Most often a person avoids — as a natural human instinct, natural human response — anything that would cause them pain. Naturally a person is going to try to avoid it. And whenever we talk about physical pain, we often consider it to be something negative. And generally, the pain sometimes depending on how much it is, it could be quite unbearable.

But there is a wisdom behind it, there is some hikmah behind it. The hikmah is that if there is some sort of physical pain that the body experiences, that's the signal that the body is giving that there is something wrong. There is something wrong going on in the body.

As soon as you feel some pain, irregular pain, what do you do? You are going to go visit a doctor, see what's going on. But if a person doesn't feel any pain, the pain receptors themselves are completely null, then if something is going on within the body, there is no way the person would know. I remember some time ago I read some article about some sort of illness where the person's very pain receptors don't work at all.

And so you think, this is superhuman, this is amazing, a person doesn't feel any pain. No, it's actually really bad. Because if, for example, a person gets any injury, or they get some sort of cut — just something small — and they don't feel it at all, there is no way they know that something is going on.

When you get cut, for example, and you feel that pain, well, you are going to tend to that wound. You are going to clean it up, you are going to make sure it's disinfected, you are going to bandage it up and whatnot. But if you don't feel the pain in the very first place, that could develop into an infection. That could be a big problem.

Same thing — take the pain that the internal physical body may go through. Allah forbid, Allah protect, give us all aafiyah and shifa. But for example, if there is something wrong with the heart, something is not working properly, when you feel the pain, that's when you know there is something wrong here. I need to go visit a doctor, maybe I need to go to the hospital. But if the pain itself the person doesn't feel, it's numbed, then it could lead to even death.

So at times, feeling the pain — at least knowing that the pain exists — is important. Even let's say afterwards, for the physical body at least, it could be numbed, you could have certain types of medication that you could take to kind of bear the pain. But knowing about the pain is absolutely essential. Without it, the body doesn't know what to do. You don't know what to do, we don't know what to do.

The Ummah as One Body

The Prophet of Allah ﷺ mentioned that this ummah is like a body:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 84)

If one part of the body is in pain, then naturally the whole body reacts to it. A person doesn't have this type of reaction where if they have some pain in the hand, but the rest of the body is comfortable, and so now you're sleeping very well and you tell your hand, okay, you just deal with the pain. You can't separate it. It's not like one of those toys or robots — if something messes up, take it out, put in a new one. The whole night will be spent worrying about that pain, that discomfort. It's going to consume the person.

That's how the Prophet ﷺ described this ummah. You are كَرَجُلٍ وَاحِدٍ — you are like one body, like one man. If one part is in pain, the whole body feels the pain.

The Blessing of Islam: Brotherhood Beyond Borders

الحمد لله على نعمة الإسلام — this deen of Allah does not differentiate between the country you're from, the race you're from, the language you speak. In fact, I often give the example: you go to الحرمين الشريفين — Allah protect their sanctity. You go there, the person sitting next to you, you may not know who he is. He may be from a different country, he may be speaking a different language, he may have a different ethnic background. But the moment you say السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ to him, his face illuminates: وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّلَام. You won't even be able to communicate. He doesn't know what you're saying, you don't know what he's saying. You're trying to say, where are you from, my brother? And he's like, I don't know what you're saying. But the moment the person says السَّلَام, immediately there's a bond.

This is one of the reasons the Prophet ﷺ said أَفْشُوا السَّلَامَ بَيْنَكُمْ. It is the hadith of Abdullah ibn Salam, known as the hadith of Salam:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Book 1, Hadith 1334; also recorded in Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2485)

The rights of every individual at every capacity — all of them described in such a short, sweet way by the Prophet ﷺ. Your brother who says لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللهِ — he believes in Allah, he believes in the Messenger of Allah — among his rights is that if he says سَلَام, you say the سَلَام back to him. رَدُّ السَّلَامِ — that's why some of the Fuqaha have said that if somebody says سَلَام to you, then to respond to the سَلَام is wajib. So for any individual we see, any Muslim, if we are able to say سَلَام, we say سَلَام.

Feeding People: إِطْعَامُ الطَّعَامِ

Those who we know a little bit more, maybe we're acquainted with them — أَطْعِمُوا الطَّعَامَ — feeding people develops mahabbah. They say the way to a person's heart is through their stomach. إِطْعَامُ الطَّعَامِ develops love.

Joining Family Ties: صِلَةُ الرَّحِمِ

Those who have a much greater right over you — your family, your blood relatives — وَصِلُوا الْأَرْحَامَ — make sure that you join family ties with them. Make sure you don't break them, break that relationship.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5991)

The one who joins ties is not the one who just does tit for tat — "this is how he behaves with me, so I'll behave with him in a similar manner; he says سَلَام, I'll just leave it to that." No. It is the one who, if he قَطَعَ — if he breaks it — you go out of your way to try to rejoin that family tie. This blood relationship is not one that a person can break just like that. These were made by Allah. We didn't choose our parents. We don't choose our children. We don't choose our siblings. These cannot be cut.

That's why even in mirath, according to the shar'i hukum, if a person says "I don't want my son to inherit — he has been very disobedient to me" — he will still inherit. So my children, in my old age, they didn't come for me, they weren't helpful to me. Or, my parents didn't help me in my success — why should they inherit from me? Though in other places that may be the case, the shari'ah says: no, this is your warith. It doesn't matter what happens. This is a blood relationship. We made that blood relationship. He's going to inherit. A person can't cut him.

The only relationships that a person has some degree of choice in are perhaps your friends and your spouse. Then too, make sure you fulfill the haqq of that. But if things go really bad and there is nothing that you could do about it, fine — there is an avenue, some way. But that too is not something that is desirable, unless needed.

Night Prayer: Connection with Allah

Going back to it — وَصَلُّوا بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّاسُ نِيَامٌ — your ta'alluq with Allah, your own connection with Allah, and the right that your ruh has over you. Your connection with Allah through the prayer.

Going back to the original point — this is ni'mat al-Islam: that any individual who says لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ, irrespective of his color, irrespective of his language, irrespective of the country he comes from — you say سَلَام to him, and automatically you understand: this is a person who believes in Allah, this is a person who believes in Rasulullah, he is my brother.

The Danger of Spiritual Numbness

What happens sometimes — as I said regarding pain — is that you could numb the pain. If the pain is there, you can numb it. And unfortunately I feel that this is what's happening. There are times where it could be beneficial, and there are times where it's not beneficial. Maybe we've been so exposed to everything that's going on in Gaza and all around the world, in Bangladesh, that a person just reads the news and they're just so desensitized to it now. Or maybe we don't even bother.

We're so involved — there are so many things out there numbing us. The whole society out here is numbing us. If it's not the Olympics, then it's the presidential race, or if it's this or it's that. Sometimes it's actual physical numbing — THC and whatever types of drugs, television, pornography, or whatever it may be. Where a person becomes so numb that they don't have time to even think about the things that are actually important.

We have to get out of that state of being numb. We have to re-sensitize ourselves. It's very important. The body should be in pain — if there's some pain in one part of the body, the rest of the body should feel it, not ignore it. That could be catastrophic for the whole body.

So at the very least, whatever is within our capacity, a person does. A person makes du'a, a person changes themselves. It's absolutely essential. How are we going to face Allah on the Day of Judgment? This is a type of bond that Allah gave us, made for us. At the very least, the person makes du'a from the bottom of his heart — he feels so concerned about it that it wakes him up in the middle of the night and he cries to Allah: Ya Allah, I can't do anything, but Ya Allah, I present my issues to You.

So we have to start removing these things that are making us numb — numb from iman, numb from the akhira. I'm not saying don't be involved with politics. Yes, we're living in a country, we need to know what's going on. But subhanAllah, hours and hours get spent in completely — sometimes very futile — discussions. "I think this, and I think that" or "have you seen this?" Whatever the case may be — Olympics or whatever is going on. So one thing is to know something's going on; another is that a person becomes completely drowned in it.

From a young age, subhanAllah, there's always constantly something that's taking us away. If it's not television, it's games, it's this or it's that.

A person becomes too numb to actually think about the Day of Judgment. He becomes too numb to think about:

Standing in front of Allah — what's that day going to look like? There are people who will say, "oh, this terrifies me, I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to hear about death." But it's a reality we have to face. We have to prepare for it.

Re-Sensitizing Ourselves: Practical Steps

So it's time that we start to remove ourselves from these things that numb us. And the way we do that — number one: just as exposure to all of these things removes our attention from Allah and His Rasul and things that are important, then we remove those things and we bring ourselves back to those places that remind us of Allah.

I remember I was traveling with one scholar and we were visiting one brother's home. He just remarked: "MashAllah, I noticed that when you were taking me to your home, on every wall there is some calligraphy or there is some picture — anything and everything was either an ayah of the Quran, a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, or a picture of Makkah, or a picture of Madinah." He said, "you know, subhanAllah, this is what you're exposing your children to. This is what they're growing up seeing."

So if we're growing up in an environment where most of our time is lost in being numb, well, at least we try to come back to the masjid and at least re-sensitize ourselves. How many times we pass by, we see something that's wrong, something that brings the displeasure of Allah, and it comes in our mind: this is something that Allah dislikes. How often do we go by the alcohol aisle in a supermarket and think: this is something that is disliked by Allah, this is something prohibited by Allah? Most often we'll go by and we won't even think about it.

So to re-sensitize, we have to rethink. We have to bring ourselves into an environment. And then, secondly: do not become desensitized even to this environment. Constantly reminding — إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ. Why is niyyah so important? It is to constantly remind. My prayer is not something I do out of habit. I don't come for Jumu'ah because this is what the cultural norm is for the Muslims. I come because I worship Allah. If I'm standing here, I'm standing in front of Allah.

May Allah grant us the tawfiq to understand. May Allah help our brothers and sisters, wherever they may be. Ya Allah, alleviate and remove the difficulties that they are in. May Allah help them, aid them. And may Allah change us as well.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

Second Khutbah

الحمدُ لله، نَحمَدُهُ وَنَستَعِينُهُ وَنَستَغفِرُهُ وَنُؤمِنُ بِهِ وَنَتَوَكَّلُ عَلَيهِ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِن شُرُورِ أَنفُسِنَا وَمِن سَيِّئَاتِ أَعمَالِنَا، مَن يَهدِهِ اللهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَن يُضلِلهُ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ، أَشهَدُ أَن لَّا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشهَدُ أَنَّ سَيِّدَنَا وَمَولَانَا مُحَمَّدًا عَبدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

Ya ahbab al-kiram, اتَّقُوا اللهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسلِمُون.

Allah says:

Allah also says:

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 84)

Allah says:

Allah says:

اذكُرُوا اللهَ العَلِيَّ العَظِيمَ يَذكُركُم، وَادعُوهُ يَستَجِب لَكُم، وَلَذِكرُ اللهِ تَعَالَى أَكبَر، وَاللهُ يَعلَمُ مَا تَصنَعُون. Establish the prayer.

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